Browsing all posts in Photography.

It’s Not Just The Camera

How many times have you heard the comment, it’s not the camera that takes a good photo, it’s the photographer? Well, if that’s true, why do professional photographers, those that make their living with photography, use mostly DSLR’s? Some of the Pro’s were using SLR film cameras when the digital revolution began and it was [...]

Review – Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It

A couple of weeks ago I attended a Scott Kelby Training seminar called Light It Shoot It Retouch It Live. It was almost eight hours of very interesting, well presented information and demonstration about studio photography. Whether or not you’re interested in studio photography I highly recommend you attend this seminar if you possibly can. [...]

Lighting – Where To Begin

One of the most intimidating things to venture into in photography is studio lighting. At one point or another we all feel a bit limited by using only ambient light or light from our pop-up or external flash, and we begin to entertain the thought of getting a few lights. So we start to research, [...]

Balancing Ambient Light with a Speedlite

Sometimes it is necessary to compensate for a background that is over-exposed, especially when shooting in bright light (as in outdoor photography). When using a speedlite as a fill flash, this is very easy to do. Different camera brands achieve this in different ways, so here is how to balance ambient light with light from [...]

Giveaway: How to Succeed in Commercial Photography

How to Succeed in Commercial Photography: Insights from a Leading Consultant by Selina Maitreya is an excellent guide for any photographer looking to break into the professional world. Maitreya offers sensible, concise advice on being competitive, building a team, developing a powerful online portfolio, setting and meeting goals, overcoming fear, and accepting success. She encourages [...]

Depth-of-Field In Depth

By Steve Russell For the beginning photographer, especially when using a DSLR, depth-of-field can make absolutely no sense. For the accomplished photographer it’s an invaluable tool for creating the desired result when photographing landscapes, portraits, wildlife, etc. In its simplest form, depth-of-field is the area, or depth of area, in front of the lens that [...]

Review: ThinkTank Retrospective 20

The Short Review: I really like it. It’s cool. It’s functional. It’s stylish. You should get one. The Somewhat Longer Review: The Think Tank Retrospective 20 is designed with the professional photographer in mind, who doesn’t want to lug around baggage that screams, “I have a fantastic Nikon and thousands of dollars of gear! Come [...]

Masters of Photography – Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940)

I’m going to approach this installment of Masters of Photography a little differently. With the previous articles I’ve tried to tell the story of the photographer and include a few of his or her photographs. This time I’m going to say a few words about the photographer and let his photographs tell the story. Look [...]

9 Tips for Photographing Sunrises and Sunsets

By Steve Russell There are hundreds of articles available on this subject but hopefully I’ll be able to provide a little different perspective on the subject. Also, there are millions of sunrise and sunset photos. Yet, people continue to photograph them so why is that? My belief is just like no two snowflakes are alike, [...]

Back to Basics: Five Tips to Freeze Action and Motion

Freezing action or motion in a photograph results in an image in which the subject and the background are “frozen”, sharp and in-focus. This is accomplished by using a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action, while using an aperture that is both tight enough to keep the entire scene in focus, but wide [...]